NORMAN, Okla. – The 24 honorees for the 2017 All-Nicklaus Team presented by Barbasol have been announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). Players from Divisions I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA were recognized for their outstanding play during the 2016-17 collegiate season.
The All-Nicklaus Team was created in 2008, and is not only named for history’s greatest player but also a long-time supporter of collegiate and amateur golf. Jack Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at The Ohio State University, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988 and it is now presented to the National Player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA. Nicklaus Award recipients have combined for over 200 victories worldwide and claimed 22 major championships.
The All-Nicklaus team is comprised of Chandler Blanchet of West Florida, Odessa’s Adam Blomme, Sam Burns of LSU, Oregon’s Wyndham Clark, John Coultas and John VanDerLaan of Florida Southern, Berry’s Ryan Elmore, Rupert Kaminski of Oklahoma City, Huntingdon’s Addison Lambeth, Logan Lanier of LaGrange, Dalton State’s SM Lee, Rowan Lester of Texas Wesleyan, Marco Maldonado of Tyler JC, Nova Southeastern’s Richard Mansell, Patrick Martin of Vanderbilt, Stanford’s Maverick McNealy, Collin Morikawa of California, UNLV’s John Oda, Indian Hills Ricky Sanders, Jimmy Stanger of Virginia, Braden Thornberry of Ole Miss, Mississippi Gulf Coast’s Colin Troxler, and Wake Forest’s Will Zalatoris.
About Barbasol:Barbasol ® is America’s #1 brand of shaving cream. For nearly 100 years, generations of men have trusted Barbasol for a close, comfortable shave. The premium formula is available in 6 varieties. Barbasol is also proud to offer NEW Premium Disposable Razors in multiple blade counts including 6-Blade, 3-Blade and Twin Blade! Barbasol Shaving Cream and Barbasol Premium Disposable Razors are available at retailers nationwide. For more information, visit Barbasol.com or follow @BarbasolShave on Twitter and Instagram. Barbasol is owned by Dublin, Ohio-based Perio Inc.
2017 All-Nicklaus Team presented by BarbasolChandler Blanchet, West FloridaAdam Blomme, OdessaSam Burns, LSUWyndham Clark, OregonJohn Coultas, Florida SouthernRyan Elmore, BerryRupert Kaminski, Oklahoma CityAddison Lambeth, HuntingdonLogan Lanier, LaGrangeSM Lee, Dalton StateRowan Lester, Texas WesleyanMarco Maldonado, Tyler JCRichard Mansell, Nova SoutheasternPatrick Martin, VanderbiltMaverick McNealy, StanfordDylan Meyer, IllinoisCollin Morikawa, CaliforniaJohn Oda, UNLVRicky Sanders, Indian HillsJimmy Stanger, VirginiaBraden Thornberry, Ole MissColin Troxler, Mississippi Gulf CoastJohn VanDerLaan, Florida SouthernWill Zalatoris, Wake Forest

DUBLIN, Ohio – Sam Burns of LSU, West Florida’s Chandler Blanchet, Logan Lanier of LaGrange, Dalton State’s SM Lee, and Tyler JC’s Marco Maldonado have been named the 2017 recipients of the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Barbasol. The Nicklaus Award recognizes the top players at the Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA levels.
In addition to receiving the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, the five recipients will compete in the Barbasol Shootout for an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship, held July 20-23, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National in Opelika, Ala. The Barbasol Shootout will be held Saturday, June 3 and tee off at 1:30 pm at the storied Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio - the same club where Jack Nicklaus first learned the game of golf as a young boy.
Mr. Nicklaus will recognize the Nicklaus Award recipients the following day at 10 am during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
“We are honored to sponsor the Jack Nicklaus Award and to offer the Barbasol Shootout winner an exemption into the Barbasol Championship.” said Tom Murray, CEO of Perio Inc., the parent company of Barbasol. “To earn the exemption, regardless of Division, offers a unique and life-changing opportunity to play in a PGA TOUR event.”
Burns, the Division I Nicklaus Award recipient, will also receive an exemption to the following year’s Memorial Tournament.
Division I: A sophomore from Shreveport, La., Burns posted four victories this season, including the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. He had two additional runner-up finishes and only placed outside the top nine once in 15 events. The SEC Player of the Year, Burns smashed LSU’s single-season scoring record with a 70.04 stroke average in 43 competitive rounds played on the season. The PING First-Team All-America selection was previously named to represent the United States in the Arnold Palmer Cup.
Division II: A junior from Gainesville, Fla., Blanchet produced seven tournament victories this season, including a final-round come-from-behind victory at the NCAA Division II National Championships. He had three additional top three finishes in his 11 events. He was a unanimous selection as Gulf South Conference Golfer of the Year. The current leader in all divisions in the Golfstat Cup, which measures adjusted stroke average at 68.71, Blanchet has posted 20 of his 31 rounds in the 60s and 26 round at par or better.
Division III: Lanier was a PING First-Team All-America selection. He also earned Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar honors. This season, he finished in the top five in nine of 10 tournaments. In addition to winning the USA South Tournament, Lanier tied for first at the Royal Lakes/Oglethorpe Fall Invitational. He graduated cum laude, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Entrepreneurship and a minor in Mathematics. He received the school’s Eagle Award which is given to the top male and female student athlete. Lanier was a tutor in mathematics and a volunteer for the Our Daily Bread food program in LaGrange.
NAIA: A native of Buford, Ga., Lee won four tournaments this season, including his first career event and the Southern States Athletic Conference. His worst finish in 10 events was tied for sixth. The Southern States Athletics Conference Player and Freshman of the Year, Lee was also recipient of the Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award for NAIA. He was the best ranked NAIA player in the Golfstat Cup rankings. He earned PING First-Team All-America honors.
NJCAA: Maldonado has posted six victories this season, the Al Jones Memorial Invitational, Tyler JC Spring Invitational, Pinecrest Intercollegiate, Hal Sutton Intercollegiate, NJCAA Southwest Championship and the NJCAA District F Championship. He had three additional top 10 finishes. Maldonado placed in the top 20 in all 11 of 12 events. A PING First-Team All-America selection, he finished the year ranked first in the NJCAA Division II Golfstat rankings.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at The Ohio State University, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988 and it is now presented to the National Player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA. Winners of the Nicklaus Award include Tiger Woods (1996), Phil Mickelson (1990-92), David Duval (1993), Justin Leonard (1994), Stewart Cink (1995), Luke Donald (1999), Hunter Mahan (2003), Bill Haas (2004), Ryan Moore (2005), Justin Thomas (2012) and Jon Rahm (2016) among many others. Award recipients have combined for over 200 victories worldwide and claimed 22 major championships.
About Barbasol:Barbasol ® is America’s #1 brand of shaving cream. For nearly 100 years, generations of men have trusted Barbasol for a close, comfortable shave. The premium formula is available in 6 varieties. Barbasol is also proud to offer NEW Premium Disposable Razors in multiple blade counts including 6-Blade, 3-Blade and Twin Blade! Barbasol Shaving Cream and Barbasol Premium Disposable Razors are available at retailers nationwide. For more information, visit Barbasol.com or follow @BarbasolShave on Twitter and Instagram. Barbasol is owned by Dublin, Ohio-based Perio Inc.

FORT WORTH, Texas (May 22, 2017) – Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) have announced that Stanford senior Maverick McNealy is the 2017 winner of The Ben Hogan Award presented by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta). He is the second Stanford winner in the past four years and is the sixth straight recipient from the Pac-12 Conference.
McNealy is one of only two players in the world currently ranked among the top 10 in all four major college and amateur ranking systems. He currently is listed second in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, and was the winner of the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Gold Medal as the year’s No. 1 player. He represented the United States at the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship and has been named to Team USA for the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup. The senior is ranked seventh in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking.
The product of Portola Valley, Calif., is listed third in both the Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin college rankings. McNealy carries a 69.72 stroke average over 29 rounds, with nine top-20 finishes in 10 events, including six top-fives. His fall victory at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational at Colonial Country Club was his 11th career win, tying him with Tiger Woods and 2014 Hogan Award winner Patrick Rodgers for most in school history.
Last week, he finished third at the NCAA Stanford Regional with an 8-under-par score of 202. McNealy, who also was a finalist in 2015 and 2016, is the second three-time finalist ever, joining Bill Haas (2002-04). He is the first player to be invited to Colonial as a finalist three times.
McNealy receives an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2018 Dean & DeLuca Invitational, as well as earn a $32,000 grant for the Stanford men’s golf scholarship program. The other two finalists’ schools each will receive grants of $16,000. In all, a record $85,000 in scholarship grants will be distributed to nine schools, bringing the total to nearly $600,000 since 2002.
The Ben Hogan Award is presented annually to the top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the 12-month period dating from the previous award’s banquet. The selection committee, which votes during each stage of the process, is made up of two dozen leaders and experts in amateur, college and professional golf. In order to determine the winner, each committee member cast a ballot that ranked the finalists from 1-3. The finalists included Oregon senior Wyndham Clark and Illinois junior Dylan Meyer.
The Ben Hogan Trophy was first issued in 1990 at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles and included academic achievement in its list of standards. In 2002, the Ben Hogan Award began honoring the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer at Colonial Country Club. Stanford now joins Oklahoma State (3), Arizona State (2), Clemson (2) and Washington (2) as schools with mulitple winners.
Winners at Colonial include: D.J. Trahan (Clemson, 2002), Ricky Barnes (Arizona, 2003), Hunter Mahan (Oklahoma State, 2003), Bill Haas (Wake Forest, 2004), Ryan Moore (UNLV, 2005), Matt Every (Florida, 2006), Chris Kirk (Georgia, 2007), Rickie Fowler (Oklahoma State, 2008), Kyle Stanley (Clemson, 2009), Nick Taylor (Washington, 2010), Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State, 2011), Patrick Cantlay (UCLA, 2012), Chris Williams (Washington, 2013), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, 2014) and Jon Rahm (Arizona State, 2015, 2016).
About Konica MinoltaKonica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future™ (www.reshapework.com). With our comprehensive portfolio, we deliver solutions to leverage mobility, cloud services, and optimize business processes with workflow automation. Our All Covered IT Services division offers a range of IT strategy, support, and network security solutions across all verticals. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for ten consecutive years and is proud to be ranked on the Forbes 2016 America’s Best Employers list. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for five years in a row. We partner with our customers to give shape to ideas and work to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit www.CountOnKonicaMinolta.com and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter @KonicaMinoltaUS.@konicaminoltaus.

NORMAN, Okla. – Baylor’s Ryan Blagg was named recipient of the 2017 Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf as selected by the GCAA. The Strickland Award is presented to the NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA or NJCAA assistant coach that, among other things, has excelled in working with their student-athletes both on the course and in the classroom.
“It is an incredible honor to be recognized as the Jan Strickland Award recipient,” said Blagg. “I feel extremely blessed to be in the company of all the past winners. I’d like to thank the GCAA, TaylorMade-adidas, the Jan Strickland Award committee, Coach (Mike) McGraw and our team. I’m really excited to see what the future holds for Baylor Golf.”
Blagg is in his fifth season as an assistant coach for the Baylor men’s golf program. He was a 2016 finalist for the Jan Strickland Award. The Bears have claimed three tournament victories and placed in the top four in all but two events this season. Braden Bailey, Cooper Dossey and Matthew Perrine won or tied for medalist honors this season and earned All-Big 12 honors. Additionally, Dossey was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Baylor led the Big 12 with seven student-athletes on the Academic All-Big 12 Golf Teams, including six first-teamers. Baylor will compete at the Stanford Regional May 15-17.
“Ryan is very deserving of this prestigious award,” stated Baylor Head Men’s Golf Coach Mike McGraw. “He is one of the hardest working and most efficient golf coaches I have ever seen. It will also please our players that he is being honored because he has made such an impact on this team.”
The Strickland Award recipient will have the opportunity to further his professional development by receiving an invitation to the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Kingdom in Carlsbad, Calif.
TaylorMade-adidas Golf has sponsored the Strickland Award since its inception in 2003.

The Mark Laesch Awards will be presented to the team that showed the greatest improvement from the previous season in adjusted stroke average after the conclusion of their national championship. For the GCAA, programs will be recognized from the NCAA Division I, II and III levels, along with NAIA and NJCAA. NCAA Divisions I, II and III will be honored by the WGCA.

“We’re both excited and humbled to present these awards that honor a man that had such a great passion and impact on college golf and also recognize a program’s improvement from one season to the next,” said GCAA President Andrew Sapp and WGCA President Kristi Knight in a joint statement. “Mark Laesch was such a positive person that it seems appropriate that an award that acknowledges improvement be bestowed in his honor.”

- GCAA/WGCA -

WGCA:The Women’s Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents nearly 600 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.GCAA:Established in 1958, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is the professional organization of golf coaches. The GCAA's mission is to support its member coaches by creating educational opportunities, providing resources, and promoting its members with the purpose of enhancing their overall performance as coaches, mentors, and teachers. The GCAA also recognizes the excellence and achievements of its members and their student-athletes in academic, athletic and civic endeavors.

NORMAN, Okla. – Maverick McNealy of Stanford has been named recipient of the 2017 Byron Nelson Award presented by Srixon/Cleveland Golf, in cooperation with the Four Seasons Resort and Club Las Colinas, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Candidates for the Nelson Award must be a graduating senior and the selection committee considers equally a nominee’s entire collegiate academic and golf career as well as his character and integrity while in college. Particular consideration will be given to a nominee’s good citizenship, as portrayed by Mr. Byron Nelson over the course of his life and golf career.
A native of Portola Valley, Calif., McNealy is tied with Tiger Woods and Patrick Rodgers for career victories at Stanford with 11. He is a two-time PING First-Team All-America selection and twice been named All-Pac 12 First Team. In 2015 as a sophomore, McNealy received the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Barbasol. The two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year has twice been named a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. Last month he was selected for the third time to represent the United States in the Arnold Palmer Cup.
McNealy has been a stalwart in the lineup all four years at Stanford. The past three years he has posted scoring averages of 69.05, 69.51 and 69.87, which led the Cardinal. In addition to the 11 career victories, McNealy has placed in the top 10 26 times.
A Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar, McNealy has also excelled in the classroom while majoring in management science and engineering. He also earned All-Pac 12 Academic the past two seasons.
Off the golf course, McNealy has participated, along with the men’s golf team, in hosting multiple afternoon golf clinics for members of East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring (EPATT), an after-school tutoring and athletics program for disadvantaged students in East Palo Alto. He served as host for the most recent EPATT golf clinic. McNealy is a member of the Cardinal Council, Stanford’s student-athlete representative body, which acts as a liaison between Stanford athletics, the athletic department, Stanford University and the NCAA.
“It is an absolute honor to be the recipient of this award, one that carries on Mr. Nelson’s legacy,” said McNealy. “I am humbled to be thought of as an exemplar of what he stood for, and his example will continue to serve as a great model in golf and life. I look forward to the challenge of representing and upholding the values of this award to the best of my abilities.”